


Pounding on the Walls

by Nemesis (ThetaSigma), ThetaSigma



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Canon-typical dead body, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 12:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6006076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/Nemesis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/ThetaSigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of the long-suffering neighbor. (Mentions events from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5980090">Canvassing</a>). Inspired by a comment from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/sidewinder">sidewinder</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pounding on the Walls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sidewinder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidewinder/gifts).



> Mentions event from [Canvassing](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5980090). Inspired by a comment from [sidewinder](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sidewinder).

The first time Brad met his new neighbors was when he was on his way out to work. Two men were coming up the hallway with boxes, one black, one white, the black one bitching, “You think you have enough fucking books? I’m throwing my back out here carrying all this shit in.”

“I’m not throwing away a lifetime collection of books just because you don’t feel like carrying some boxes, Fin,” the other guy said. “Besides, I’m carrying them too, and you don’t see me complaining.”

“Yeah, but they’re _your_ nutjob conspiracy manuals,” the other guy – Fin? – said. 

Brad nodded and walked by, hearing them bicker amicably all the way into the apartment next to his. He frowned for a moment as he tried to remember just _how_ many bedrooms that apartment had, because he was pretty sure it was a one-bedroom place, like his.

Well, he was no homophobe. He just hoped they’d be quieter than his last neighbors – an old couple, the Bernsteins, who liked to fight at every hour of the day and night, huge screaming matches that usually ended with something thrown. He’d had to call the police a couple times.

***

Brad rolled over in bed, pressing the pillow over his ears. He didn’t know _why_ they were putting together furniture at – he glanced at the clock – 10 pm, but he had an early meeting and wanted to sleep. The hammer banging continued for maybe another hour before it finally stopped, and Brad hoped that they were going to be otherwise decent. Maybe they were shift workers and slept during the day.

***

Brad was startled awake by something. He lay in bed, wondering what it was. He was convinced he had heard something. 

There it was again, a loud moan. Didn’t sound like pain, he thought wryly. He looked at the clock – 2 am – and sighed. It was the third fucking time this _week_. 

He sighed and considered pounding on the wall. He hadn’t yet, pretending that he had heard nothing, but this was getting absolutely ridiculous. Granted, they didn’t _fight_ all hours of the day and night, but they seemed determined to screw at ridiculous hours, and one of them was _loud_.

He finally gave up and pounded on the wall in annoyance. It was _2 am_ for crying out loud; he could put up with this nonsense in the pm hours, but people _slept_ occasionally.

The decibel level dropped and the next morning he found a scrawled note under his door: “Sorry! We’ll try to keep it down!”

***

The next few months he heard noises but they were quieter, save for one loud moan or, occasionally, howl. He figured it was one of the guys coming and didn’t bang on the wall, especially since they did try to keep it before midnight.

And they didn’t fight, he had to admit. Except for the … amorous noises he heard fairly regularly, the apartment was frequently silent. Sometimes he heard low murmurs – the walls were not thick – but if they fought, they did it at a decibel level that he couldn’t hear.

All in all, he figured that he’d prefer the occasional sex noise to the constant fighting he’d heard from the Bernsteins before.

***

The noises got louder again; he probably should have figured they would. He could tell by now that it was just _one_ of the guys who was so loud, the other seemed to be quieter. He felt kind of dirty knowing that and went back to pounding on the wall occasionally to try to quiet them down, especially if it was late or if he was trying to sleep. 

***

It was Valentine’s Day. He hated Valentine’s Day. His fiancée had broken up with him three years ago on Valentine’s Day, and although he dated, he still got into a mood on the day itself. This year was especially bad: he had no girlfriend, just his memories.

He was sitting at home, on his bed, looking through photo albums with a bottle of vodka next to him, determined to get drunk tonight.

He was brought out of the drunken sob session by a loud moan. Not again, not tonight, although he should have expected it. Fucking Valentine’s Day, man. Fucking hell.

When he heard a long _howl_ , he pounded on the wall _loudly_ in annoyance. Tonight was _not_ a good night. 

It fell quiet next door and he went back to drunkenly staring at the photos. Fuck happy couples.

***

It was maybe half a year later. They were _still_ loud, and at this point, Brad doubted they’d change. To continue to be fair to them, they still didn’t fight, just had loud sex. He had pounded on the wall _again_ tonight.

There was a banging on his door, and he wondered if they were finally going to talk about it. He didn’t want to actually _acknowledge_ it to them!

A man and a woman were standing in his doorway. One of them flashed a badge and said, “I’m Detective Benson, this is my partner, Detective Stabler.”

“What can I help you with?” he asked warily. 

“There’s been a murder outside. We’re just canvassing the apartment to see if anyone’s heard anything in the past 2-4 hours,” Detective Stabler said.

“No, the only thing _I_ heard in the past 2-4 hours was my neighbors having _incredibly_ loud sex,” Brad said sourly, indicating the adjoining wall. “Do you know how _loud_ they are?”

“No, and we don’t want to, thank you!” Detective – what was it, Stabler? – said quickly, heading for the door. “Thanks for your time.”

Brad stared at them as they left, surprised. He would’ve figured cops could handle hearing about guys having loud sex.

***

Brad kept pounding on the wall for another year, until one day he saw them coming home and saw a glimpse of a gun on the white guy’s hip. Brad swallowed hard and shut the door carefully. They hadn’t shot him, hadn’t even _threatened_ him, but he was suddenly scared. This was a decent neighborhood, people around here didn’t _have_ guns. 

He debated calling the police and reporting it, but something held him back. He didn’t know if it was registered or not, and even if not, it wasn’t such a major crime that the couple wouldn’t be back. And this time, with an actual grudge against him.

He remembered the dead body outside a year ago and started to wonder if they had had anything to do with it, but figured the cops probably would’ve caught them.

If not, he _really_ didn’t want to piss off a murderer (or _two_ murderers!).

He stopped pounding on the wall that night and just put up with the noises. He wasn’t messing with a gun.

*** 

Some months later, Brad grabbed a newspaper on his way to work and saw the headline about a hero cop. He looked at the face and his jaw dropped. That was one of his neighbors – the quieter one. The other one must be a cop, too – and no _wonder_ they had guns, if they were _cops_. He read the story in interest – the guy had been shot, apparently, but was fine, saved a kid’s life during a robbery. 

He went back to pounding on the walls.

***

Brad moved out five years later. He had found someone he wanted to start a family with and they were moving into a place with more room.

An elderly lady, with a hearing aid, moved in, and Brad smiled. Well, at least his neighbors would stop hearing pounding on the walls whenever they had sex.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments are love <3


End file.
